Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Has $214.04 Million Stock Holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lowered its position in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 12.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,207,553 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 318,022 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $214,037,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BMO. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 708,767 shares of the bank’s stock worth $68,786,000 after purchasing an additional 40,135 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 194,218 shares of the bank’s stock worth $18,855,000 after acquiring an additional 14,351 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Bank of Montreal by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,913,716 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $185,694,000 after acquiring an additional 64,799 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 58.4% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 4,618 shares of the bank’s stock worth $448,000 after acquiring an additional 1,703 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Korea Investment CORP raised its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 478,191 shares of the bank’s stock worth $46,399,000 after purchasing an additional 12,052 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BMO. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Cibc World Mkts lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. CIBC cut shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Stock Up 0.1 %

Bank of Montreal stock opened at $92.79 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Bank of Montreal has a 1-year low of $76.98 and a 1-year high of $106.00. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $97.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $96.18. The company has a market cap of $67.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.95.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $1.36. The company had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.58 billion. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 9.22%. Bank of Montreal’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.56 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $1.1094 per share. This represents a $4.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.78%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 29th. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.35%.

About Bank of Montreal

Bank of Montreal provides diversified financial services primarily in North America. It operates through Canadian P&C, U.S P&C, BMO Wealth Management, and BMO Capital Markets segments. The company’s personal banking products and services include deposits, mortgages, home lending, consumer credit, small business lending, credit cards, cash management, financial and investment advice, and other banking services; and commercial banking products and services comprise various of financing options and treasury and payment solutions, as well as risk management products.